No matter the result at Tiger Stadium on Tuesday night, the Centralia Tigers were locked into the No. 3 seed in the EvCo and were set to host a pigtail game on Thursday.

Centralia coach Luis Magana knew that, so he made sure to check off multiple boxes in the Tigers’ final regular-season game, a 5-0 loss to Tumwater.

Centralia approached the match business as usual, looking to perform better against the T-Birds than they did in a 9-0 loss up north earlier in the season.

Tumwater was able to get three on the board in the first half, but the Tigers were holding their own against the league champs.

That carried over into the second half, where the score remained the same around the 60th minute.

With the postseason spot locked up, Magana decided to get some of his younger players into the game so he could get a glimpse of what the future could look like.

“What better way to get experience than against the toughest team in the league,” Magana said.

The youngsters allowed two goals in the final 15 minutes of the game, but Magana was still pleased with the effort and intensity they showed.

“I was proud of how everyone played today,” Magana said. “They never gave up … I just got to see a lot of things I wanted to see.”

While Magana applauded the effort of the younger players, he also made sure to shout out his seniors — 

“I’m so proud of this senior class,” Magana said. “It was a pleasure coaching them.”

Magana will hope to coach this class for at least a few more games, but the Tigers (6-7-3, 5-5 2A EvCo) will have to win at home on Thursday against Mark Morris to advance to the double-elimination portion of the district tournament.

“They understand that the important game is on Thursday,” Magana said. “And that’s do or die … We’re ready to go.”